JPH0721459A - Ice discharge control device for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve commodity quality from being deteriorated due to a sherbet-like state of melted ice because ice cubes mixed with cold beverage are used also for cooling the bevarage in the case of vending of vending the cold bevarage by a cup type automatic vending machine. CONSTITUTION:At the time of vending a commodity, a material and hot water are discharged through a material motor and hot water valve by turning on control relays X2, X3, the material and hot water are agitated through an agitation motor turning on a relay X5, cold water is discharged through a cold water valve by turning on a relay X4, and then these material, hot water and cold water are poured into a cup to prepare a beverage. In this invention, the operation of an ice valve for discharing ice cubes by turning on a relay X1 is divided into two steps, the discharge of ice cubes of a 1st step is executed in the initial stage of beverage preparation to cool the beverage and the discharge of a 2nd step is executed immediately before carrying out a cup after preparing the bevarage to prevent discharged ice cubes from being melted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is intended to prevent ice from melting and becoming smaller in a so-called cup-type vending machine (abbreviated as vending machine) in which hot water, cold water, raw materials and ice are mixed to prepare a beverage. The present invention relates to an ice discharge control device that discharges ice in two batches to create a beverage. In the drawings below, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional cup type vending machine of this type, for example, when selling cold coffee, coffee,
Sugar, cream, etc. Powdered raw materials are mixed and stirred with hot water, cold water is added to this stock solution to make a drink, and this drink is poured into a cup that discharges a set amount of ice at a time, and the drink temperature is lowered with ice. I try to sell the drink in this cup.

[0003]

However, in such a vending machine, the ice is discharged at once and mixed with the beverage, so that the ice melts uniformly and the ice becomes small as a whole. The drink feels like sherbet,
There is a problem of impairing taste. Then, the subject of this invention is providing the ice discharge control apparatus of an automatic vending machine which makes it difficult to produce such a small ice.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an ice discharge control device according to a first aspect of the present invention supplies at least respective preset amounts of raw material and hot water or (and) cold water (raw material motor 6, Discharge (via the hot water valve 7, cold water valve 12, etc.) (via the stirring motor 9, etc.) to produce a beverage liquid, and then discharge a set amount of ice (via the ice valve 8 etc.) In a vending machine that pours discharged ice into a cup (5 or the like) for sale, divides the discharge of ice into two at a predetermined discharge rate, the first time at least during the preparation of the beverage liquid. The control means (the control device 10 or the like) for performing the operation for the second time after the preparation of the beverage is provided.

According to a second aspect of the ice discharge control device of the present invention, in the ice discharge control device of the first aspect, the control means causes the first and second ice discharges to be performed by set amounts respectively. To The ice discharge control device according to claim 3 is the ice discharge control device according to claim 1, wherein the control means detects a temperature of each of the hot water and the cold water (a hot water temperature sensor 13, a cold water temperature sensor 14, etc.). ), Based on the set amount of each of the hot water, cold water, and ice, and the detected temperature of each of the hot water and cold water, 1 of the ice required to cool the beverage liquid to the target temperature.
A means for calculating the discharge amount of the second time and calculating the discharge amount of the second time of ice from the discharge amount of the first time and the set amount of ice is provided, and the ice of a corresponding discharge amount is discharged. To do so.

[0006]

[Function] When making a beverage, a stock solution prepared by discharging hot water and raw materials,
After mixing the discharged ice and cold water to this mixture,
Mix the ice again. In this way, since the beverage is cooled by the heat of melting of ice in the first ice discharge, the ice discharged in the second time does not become small because the heat of melting is small.

Further, the discharge amount of ice to reach the target drink temperature (fixed) is calculated from the hot water temperature, the cold water temperature and the hot water amount necessary for making the beverage, and the ice discharge is divided into two times from one set amount of ice. To do so. In this way, the beverage is prepared with one ice amount setting as in the conventional case, and the operator's labor is saved.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the principle structure of the essential parts of a cup type vending machine as an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 4 is a stirrer, 1 is a raw material canister for holding the powder raw material of the beverage,
Reference numeral 6 denotes a raw material motor for discharging the raw material of the raw material canister 1 toward the stirrer 4. Next, 3 is a hot water tank, 13 is a hot water temperature sensor for detecting the hot water temperature of the hot water tank 3, and 7 is a hot water tank.
Is a hot water valve for discharging hot water from the hot water tank 3 toward the stirrer 4.

Next, 11 is a cold water tank for storing cold water, 14 is a cold water temperature sensor for detecting the cold water temperature of this cold water tank, and 12 is a cold water temperature sensor.
Is a cold water valve for discharging the cold water in the cold water tank 11 toward the stirrer 4. Next, 9 is the raw material and hot water discharged to the stirrer 4,
It is a stirring motor that stirs cold water and the like.

Next, 2 is an ice making machine, 8 is an ice valve for discharging the ice in the ice making machine 2, and 5 is the poured ice and the drink liquid flowing down while being stirred by the stirrer 4. It is a cup offered for sale. Further, 10 inputs the detection values of the hot water temperature sensor 13 and the cold water temperature sensor 14, and at the same time, the raw material discharge motor 6, hot water valve 7, ice valve 8, stirring motor 9, cold water valve 1
2 is a control device for driving and controlling 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device 10 shown in FIG. In the figure, 101 is this control device 1.
An arithmetic unit such as a CPU, which is the main control unit of 0, and a storage unit 102 belonging to the arithmetic unit 101. Further, 104 is an I / O port for the arithmetic unit 101, and 103 is an I / O
A setting device for inputting setting data and the like to the arithmetic device 101 via the port 104, 106 converts analog detection signals detected by the hot water temperature sensor 13 and the cold water temperature sensor 14 into digital data, and calculates via the I / O port 104 Device 101
A / D converter for In addition, X (X1 to X
Reference numeral 5) is a control relay driven by the arithmetic unit 101 via the I / O port 104. The control relays X1 to X5
Controls the ice valve 8, the raw material motor 6, the hot water valve 7, the cold water valve 12, and the stirring motor 9, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control device 10, and S1 to S6 show the steps. Next, FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. Setting device 1 of FIG.
When the raw material discharge amount, hot water discharge amount, cold water discharge amount, and ice discharge amount at the time of sale are set, 03 sends setting data to the arithmetic unit 101 via the I / O port 104, and the arithmetic unit 101
Stores the respective data in the storage device 102 (S
1, S2). By the way, two methods, 1) and 2), described below, can be considered as the method of setting the ice discharge amount, and the subsequent operation of FIG. 3 changes accordingly.

1) When the ice is discharged by two independent discharge set values: In this case, the hot water temperature sensor 13 and the cold water temperature sensor 14 shown in FIG. 1 are not used, and the arithmetic unit 101 determines the ice discharge amount. In steps S1 and S2, the first and second ice discharge amounts set by the setting device 103 are received via the I / O port 104 and stored in the storage device 102. And in the subsequent sales operation, step S in FIG.
4, S5 are omitted.

That is, when the arithmetic unit 101 determines in step S3 that the product should be sold (branch Y), step S3 is performed.
Proceed to step 6, and follow the time chart of FIG.
~ X5 is controlled to execute the selling operation, and the ice valve 8 is operated in two steps. Referring now to FIG. 4, the arithmetic unit 1
01 is the raw material discharge amount set by the raw material motor control relay X2 and the hot water valve control relay X3 from the hourly odor t ₁ , respectively.
It is turned on for a time corresponding to the amount of hot water discharged, and the raw material motor 6 and the hot water valve 7 are driven to bring the set amount of raw material and hot water to the stirrer 4.
To discharge. At the same time, the arithmetic unit 101 also turns on the ice valve control relay X1 for a time corresponding to the ice discharge amount set as the first time, and also discharges this set amount of ice to the cup 5.

[0015] From then arithmetic unit 101 time t ₂ is elapsed from time t ₁ a predetermined time, for stirring motor control relay X5
Is turned on for a predetermined time, and the raw material and hot water are poured into the cup 5 with stirring. Then processing unit 101 turns on the cold water valve for controlling the relay X4 turns off the stirring motor control relay X5 from time t ₂ to time t ₃ when passed the predetermined time. The relay X4 is turned on to the time t ₄ when the elapsed time corresponding to the cold water discharge amount set, cold water of the set amount is poured into the cup 5 with wash agitator 4 is discharged to the stirrer 4.

Next, the arithmetic unit 101 turns on the ice valve control relay X1 again from the time t ₅ when a predetermined time has elapsed from the time t _4.
It is turned on for a time corresponding to the ice discharge amount set as the first time, and this set amount of ice is discharged to the cup 5. In this way, the beverage liquid is sufficiently cooled by the first discharge ice during the period from time t ₁ to time t ₅ , so the second discharge ice is not melted so much and remains in the cup 5 for sale. Is maintained.

2) In the case where the ice discharge is automatically divided into two according to the beverage temperature with one set value: In this case, the hot water temperature sensor 13 for measuring the hot water temperature in the hot water tank 3 and the cold water tank The chilled water temperature sensor 14 for measuring the chilled water temperature in 11 is the A / D converter 106 and the I / O port 10 of FIG.
4 is connected to the arithmetic unit 101. Further, steps S4 and S5 are added to the sales operation of the float chart of FIG.

That is, in this case, as for the ice discharge amount, the arithmetic unit 101 sets the ice discharge amount (the sum of the first time and the second time) set by the setting device 103 in the steps S1 and S2 to the I / O port 104. It is received via the storage device 102 and stored in the storage device 102. At the time of sale (S3, branch Y), the hot water temperature sensor 13
And the cold water temperature sensor 14 are read to obtain the temperature and the cold water temperature (S4), and the hot water discharge amount, the cold water discharge amount and the total ice discharge amount stored in step S2 are detected, and the temperature and the cold water temperature are detected in step S4. From the hot water temperature and the cold water temperature, the first and second ice discharge amounts are separately calculated by the following formula 1 (S5). [Equation 1] First ice discharge amount = [(hot water temperature) × (hot water amount) + (cold water temperature) × (cold water amount) − (hot water amount + cold water amount) × (target temperature)]
/ [Heat melting amount of ice] + (target temperature)] Second ice discharge amount = (ice discharge set value)-(first ice amount) For example, hot water temperature = 90 ° C, cold water temperature = 1 ° C, hot water discharge amount = 45C
C, cold water discharge amount = 58 CC, ice discharge amount = 53 g, target temperature = 5 ° C., ice melting heat amount = 80 cal / g, first ice discharge amount = (90 × 45 + 1 × 58− (45 + 5)
8) × 5)) ÷ (80 + 5) = 44 g The second ice discharge amount = 53−44 = 9 g.

Then, in step S6, as shown in FIG.
Control relays (X1 to X
The control of 5) is performed, and the ice valve 8 is operated twice so that the calculated discharge amount of ice of the above [Formula 1] is discharged.

[0020]

According to the present invention, at the time of making a cold beverage, the ice to be discharged to the beverage is divided into one for cooling the beverage and one for the taste, and the former is the first time and the latter is the second time, and a time lag is provided to discharge the ice. Therefore, the size of ice particles for taste is twice as large as that of the conventional method of discharging at one time, and the effect that the beverage is hard to sherbet is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram showing the configuration of the control device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a float chart showing the operation of the control device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the operation of the control relay in the sales operation of step S6 of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Raw material canister 2 Ice machine 3 Hot water tank 4 Stirrer 5 Cup 6 Raw material motor 7 Hot water valve 8 Ice valve 9 Stirring motor 10 Control device 11 Cold water tank 12 Cold water valve 13 Hot water temperature sensor 14 Cold water temperature sensor 101 Computing device 102 Storage device 103 Setting device 104 I / O port X (X1 to X5) control relay

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. At least a preset amount of each raw material and hot water or (and) cold water are discharged and agitated to prepare a drink liquid, and a set amount of ice is further discharged, and this drink liquid and the discharged ice In a vending machine for pouring into a cup for sale, the ice discharge is divided into two times, a first time is performed at least during the preparation of the beverage solution, and a second time is performed after the preparation of the beverage solution. An ice discharge control device for a vending machine characterized by being equipped. 2. The ice discharge control device according to claim 1, wherein the control means causes the first and second ice discharges to be performed by set amounts, respectively. Discharge control device. 3. The ice discharge control device according to claim 1, wherein the control means detects the temperature of each of the hot water and cold water, the set amount of each of the hot water, cold water, and ice, and the hot water and cold water. A first discharge amount of ice required to cool the beverage liquid to a target temperature is calculated from each detected temperature, and a second discharge amount of ice is calculated from the first discharge amount and the set amount of ice. An ice discharge control device for a vending machine, comprising means for calculating the amount and discharging the corresponding amount of ice.